Sundays are the best days for curling up in a comfy chair and indulging in good, quality long-form journalism.

I've got a story that's right up our alley today care of Esquire magazine, whose recently-posted article "How to Build an American Car" traces the construction of the Cadillac ATS from start to finish.

And by that, I mean it starts with lumps of bauxite dug out of a foreign country and ends with the Caddy rolling off the assembly line. They also talk to many of the employees involved with putting the car together, and note the amount of detail that goes into everything. Here's an excerpt:

The ATS had to sound like a Cadillac. That was a company mandate. And his job. "What does a Cadillac ATS sound like?" he asks. "Refined power," he answers. Not too loud, not too soft. Kyle drove Audi A4's and Benzes, tested them, and none of them hit a specific sound that he liked. The sound he wanted for the ATS is best described as "speak when spoken to," meaning it didn't make a lot of noise until he nosed his foot against the pedal and got it to purr. A Chevy, by comparison, is rougher and huskier than a Cadillac.

The story notes that the ATS is important because of its potential to compete with cars like the BMW 3-series. We gave the ATS pretty high marks in our July review. I'm not sure I agree with Esquire's assertion that the ATS may be the most important American car since the Model T — I feel like the Chevrolet Volt deserves that honor because of the technology it pioneers — but this story is very much worth checking out.